It was that which had cost her the freedom she so wished for now. The Arctics had heard of her work, probably through one of the articles she herself had published, and the rest was history. For years now, they'd been trying to will her into figuring out a way to make shifters heal even faster than they were now, with obvious aims to better prep their supposed 'super soldiers' for use in whatever dastardly ways that they had.
The whole super soldier thing had been a myth among the scientists for a long time, everyone hearing something about it but no one knowing any specifics. Up until a few years ago, of course, when it had become very obvious that The Arctics were palpably close to creating the kind of beasts that couldn't be stopped by conventional means.
It had been somewhat of a relief to everyone involved when a couple of perhaps lucky, but certainly effective attacks by The Firm's teams – notably Shifter Squad Six, as Dice had told her – had wiped out much of the ground that The Arctics had gained. But, of course, it had made her own research all the more valuable.
And so here she was, stuck in a web with no easy way out, rattling down a bumpy road with her hands ziptied together and a pair of werewolf brothers squabbling over who knew what. Life had gone from miserable, to exciting and promising, to full-on weird and Meredith hadn't quite adjusted to it yet.
Soon enough, the gates of the second compound loomed in the distance and the car slowed down. Price and Prowler shared a quick look amongst themselves and nodded, with Prowler removing one of the headsets and slipping it in a pocket. They were both clad in The Arctics' uniforms and wore their weapons as well, though both had kept some of their own flair. They were the only ones who could make the drive as all of The Arctics' agents were werewolves, though Meredith desperately wished she were sitting next to Dice right about now.
But then it'd be even harder to leave, she thought darkly, the truth of it far too glaring.
"It's show time," Prowler said with a grin.
"What's going to happen after I'm transported out?" Meredith asked, morbid curiosity getting the best of her.
"We fucking exterminate them," Price said matter-of-factly.
"Sorry, part of the road had been washed out so we had to take a detour," Prowler said with a beaming smile as he rolled the window down outside the gates, one of The Arctics' guards glaring at him darkly.
He was one of the blue-eyed blonde ones. The hint of honest disdain at Prowler's features was immediately obvious on him. They were such purists it was bordering on disgusting even if you weren't currently being hunted down by them.
The things I find questionable now, Meredith thought with mild amusement, though her heart beat like a jackhammer in her chest.
"You guys new? Where's Chip and the rest of the crew?"
"Oh, bad fever, you know. They're laid up back at the base," Price said sagely, nodding with stern worry and having Prowler join in.
Meredith saw the little smirk Price gave the moment the guard pulled back and waved them through, though. Something inside of her told her that the werewolf twins were going to have a hell of a lot fun reducing this particular base to its chemical components, starting with that guard out there.
The heavy gates were opened and the car trundled in slowly, stopping in the middle of a parking lot holding about four matching cars. The door on Meredith's side was pulled open and she was yanked out without much care, a tall, beefy-looking guy taking one look at her and then marching her through a gap between some buildings and towards the command tower in the distance.
She knew from earlier experience that there would be a small airplane waiting for her there and it would be a few days at minimum before she would normally be returned here. She got one more good look over her shoulder at Price and Prowler, who seemed to be casually leaning on the car and looking around as if waiting for new orders. Price gave her a private wink and Meredith stifled a smile.
It was the closest she'd gotten to feeling even a modicum of joy in one of those Arctics' bases other than when she'd been with Dice. There just wasn't a lot to look forward to when your life was controlled by blood-hungry terrorists, but the thought of having at least some of them brought to a swift and painful end was somewhat … uplifting. Even for someone as generally well-meaning as Meredith was.
"Get on in there, we're already behind schedule," the man said, gripping her by the arm as they made it to the plane.
Dutifully, she climbed on, took her seat behind the pilot's chair and had the belt fastened around her quickly and efficiently. Two guards filed in after her and a few minutes later, the airplane was taking off, the small engine making a questionable rattling sound that Meredith had come to learn to expect.
She looked out of the window in time to see the first explosion, originating in the middle of the lot that the twins had parked their car at. Meredith gasped as the small plane rocked to the side from the blast, the pilot steadying it swiftly enough when two other, smaller explosions followed the first one in quick succession.
Right about then, Shifter Squad Nine was descending down on The Arctics' base like a plague of locusts, starting with blowing up their car park with the use of several high-duty explosives set in the armored vehicle Meredith had travelled in. It wouldn't take the squad long to get in through the gates, seeing as Prowler and Price opened them from the inside, and Thor had taken the guards out from a nest set up a few days in advance.
The only people who'd stand to tell anything about the existence of the two bases in the middle of the Peruvian rain forest were Meredith and the three lucky sods that had gotten on the airplane with her. No one else would live to tell the tale and frankly, Meredith wouldn't shed a single tear for any of them.
I'll get back to you, Dice. Show them hell while I work on my side, she thought, plastering a look of shock on her expression as the men around her burst into aggravated conversation. We'll make it through. Together. We have to.
Eight
Dice
Nine months later …
Dice's footsteps were hard and heavy as he crossed through the long hallways of the Chicago base. He was muddy, bloody, filthy and smelled like someone had dunked him in a pit of gasoline, which wasn't too far from the truth. But it was sure as hell that no one was going to point any of this out to him or question his cleanliness right now, because the expression he wore promised that the first person to get in his way would die a sudden and very painful death.
"Where the FUCK is he?!" Dice commanded, storming into the third floor research facilities.
The Chicago base mostly dealt with research and development for The Firm, while the one in California acted more like a forward camp for outgoing missions all over the world. The Firm had an endless supply of safehouses and command bases all around the world, though the clusters were mostly in the USA and the major European and Asian cities.
Most of the management seemed to be in the States more often than not, or so they'd have their employees think, because no one really knew for a fact who owned The Firm.
However, Dice had it on good account that right now, he could find Spade in the Chicago offices and if he didn't, he was going to tear through the whole goddamn globe until he found the man and personally removed his spine from his body.
"W-who?" the clerk asked, a shuddery looking young woman with mousy-brown eyes.
"Spade," Dice hissed, the word like a curse as it came off his lips.
"He's in t-there," she said, pointing at the large doors down the corridor that would take Dice into one of the simulation bays.
He glared at her, as if to make certain whether or not she was telling him the truth, before stomping off again in the noted direction. Slamming the door open in front of him, the large werebear commando barged in, completely uncaring as to what he might be interrupting. In fact, one look at him would confirm that the more of a mess he managed to create at the moment, the gladder he would be.
"Dice. Back so soon," Spade said flatly, handing a clipboard with information to an aid as he surveyed the large man approaching him with murder in his eyes. "Leave us."
Spade's command was heeded immediately. The two geeky-looking aids skittered out of the lab faster than Dice could approach them and the large piece of machinery that was being tested at the moment was shut down as well. He thought he could hear some movement at the periphery as well, assuming that some people in viewing rooms to the sides were making themselves scarce.